My Meat & Mushroom Sauce…

Ingredients –

2 cups button mushrooms sliced

½ a large onion diced

½ lb ground pork
½ lb ground beef
½ lb group veal

3 or 4 roasted garlic cloves minced

1 Tbsp of Italian seasoning
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp red pepper flakes
Salt to taste

2 cups good red wine
1 cup beef broth
1 cup whole milk

1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 28 ounce can of tomato sauce

1 Tbsp of brown sugar

Instructions -

When I was in college I spent a couple of summers in the northeastern region of Italy called Friuli-Venezia Giulia. I watched some wonderful Italian cooks use some spices and ingredients that were not so common in other regions of Italy. It was there that I learned the basics of a meat sauce that I make to this day during the fall and winter.

In a very large hot stock pot or sauce pan with a teaspoon of butter quickly brown the mushroom slices and set aside.

Add the diced onion and sauté quickly – do not brown - just soften.

Turn the heat down to med-low and crumble the ground meats into the onions little by little making sure that all the meat is broken up in small pieces of equal size.

Turn the heat to medium.

Add the minced garlic.

Add the next 5 seasonings distributing throughout.

Sauté the meat until there is no longer any pink and it is lightly browned.

Add the mushrooms back in.

Add the wine and simmer over a low flame, uncovered, until the wine has almost evaporated. Do not let the pan go completely dry.

When the wine is almost gone add the broth and the whole milk together and stir to mix well. Simmer over a low flame, uncovered, until the liquid has almost evaporated. Do not let the pan go completely dry.

Add the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce. Simmer over a low flame slowly for a couple of hours checking and stirring occasionally.

Taste for acidity and add the brown sugar to sweeten a bit. Adjust salt.

We like this with any kind of pasta – especially angel hair - and also grilled polenta.